Dr. Rhendle Michael Millen received a Bachelor of Music and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Memphis State University as well as a Master of Music from the University of Alabama. A faculty member at St. Mary's Episcopal School for Girls in Memphis, Tennessee since 1984, Millen conducts the instrumental ensembles and teaches Instrumental Music, Advanced Placement Music Theory, Honors Humanities I and II, and serves as Chair of the Performing Arts department.
In addition to his duties at St. Mary's and with the Bartlett Community Concert Band, Millen regularly performs with the Tupelo Mississippi Symphony Orchestra. He is a former Director of Music at Shady Grove Presbyterian Church i(1990-2010) in Memphis. He has also been a guest conductor for such groups as the River City Concert Band, the Memphis State University Orchestra and Symphonic Band, and Roscoe's Surprise Orchestra.
His honors and awards include the Tennessee Association of Independent Schools’ Hubert Smothers Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2008, United States Department of Education Presidential Scholars Program Distinguished Teacher award in 2006, and commendations from the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts, The University of Chicago, and Stanford University for excellence in teaching. In 2009, Millen became the first male to ever be awarded the St. Mary’s Gold Cross.
A past president of the Memphis Composer's Alliance, there have been numerous performances of his works throughout the United States at such venues as the American Society of Composer's Regional Conference in Miami, Florida, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and the Flute Festival '87 in Nagadoches, Texas. At the University of Memphis, he was three times awarded the Johannes Smit Composition Award and twice the Naiomi Haimson Composition Prize. At the University of Alabama he received the Mu Phi Epsilon Composition Award. In 1988, Millen was named the Greater Memphis Music Teachers' Association Composer of the Year.